Yost has found evidence of deceit in some schools

Columbus school attendance scandal

Columbus City Schools employees -- and perhaps others in schools throughout the state -- are accused of falsifying students' records to improve their schools' standing on state report cards. Read the complete series.

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As members of the Columbus Board of Education listened from the audience, state Auditor Dave
Yost said that interviews have produced evidence of “mal-intent” behind the changing of student
data in some school districts.

Without naming specific districts or officials during a lunchtime meeting of the Columbus
Metropolitan Club yesterday, Yost discussed for the first time what his investigators have learned
from interviews in their investigation of data changes that could have inflated schools’
performance. The auditor has subpoena power to compel witnesses to appear to be interviewed or to
produce documents.

Dispatch Editor Ben Marrison, who interviewed Yost during the event, asked the auditor
what he has found most surprising or outrageous. Yost said officials with a high degree of public
trust “think that we’re stupid enough that they can just say anything and we’re going to buy
it."

Yost said that his investigation is showing that some individuals in some places did not live up
to their duty, that the state report-card system is broken and overly complex, and that interviews
with those involved have produced evidence that “some actors within some systems have
mal-intent."

“I think there is evidence to support that,” Yost said.

Yost added that it’s too early to announce whether he will seek criminal charges against any
officials for falsifying public records or other possible charges. Yost announced preliminary
findings last week that said five Ohio school districts, including Columbus City Schools, showed
systemic evidence of unlawful scrubbing of records.

Whether criminal charges are sought will rest on the question of the intent for the changes,
Yost said. He intends to release another preliminary report this month and complete his work by
January. He and the state Board of Education are recommending that the state legislature give the
Education Department better tools to detect incorrect or fraudulent reporting by districts.

Columbus Board of Education President Carol Perkins reacted yesterday to Yost’s words by saying,
“I believe we’re still in the same place.” Yost needs to quickly provide recommendations and
clarify state reporting rules so that the district can move forward and hold people responsible,
said Perkins, who watched Yost’s address with three other board members and Deputy Superintendent
John Stanford.

Superintendent Gene Harris did not attend.

After Yost announced last week that the first 10 Columbus schools he investigated all showed
evidence of scrubbing, Harris held a news conference — alongside the district’s newly hired
attorney, Robert “Buzz” Trafford — to defend the district. Harris said that Yost hadn’t proved that
data was changed in the Columbus district to improve state report cards, and that district
officials were confused by complex state reporting rules.

Yost said yesterday that while the state Department of Education could have offered better
direction to districts, arguments over what the rules meant remind him of the idiom “to strain at
gnats and swallow camels” — or to fuss about trifles while ignoring more-serious issues.

Yost warned that some officials are sacrificing their public credibility, and “as Richard Nixon
found out, you lose your ability to govern.”